JJJJf OF CONGRESS 

000020t,?0?^ 




BUSINESS METHODS 

FOR 

EXECUTIVE 
HOUSEKEEPERS 



By 

CRETE M. DAHL 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 







HOMOTESI SUCCESS 1\ 




000 206 707 9 • * 






COLD BOOK LIBRARY 

FOOD SERVICE N*. 

The Efficient Waitress Manual 1 

The Efficient Waiter Manual 2 

Barman's Manual 49 

Dining Room Management 6 

Dictionary of 1001 Menu Terms 37 

Hotel Food Service Manual 93 

MENU MAKING 

365 High Profit Luncheon Menus 52 

265 High Profit Dinner Menus 63 

Ideas from 1000 Menus 73 

184 Menus for Fall and Winter 22 

184 Menu* for Spring and Summer 28 

1 16 Menus for Special Parties 64 

Profitable Menu Making 6 

365 Breakfast Menus 27 

2000 Seasonal Menu Suggestions 69 

RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 

Restaurant Advertising 8 

Restaurant Data Book 60 

How to Increase Restaurant Profits 9 

Handbook of Food Selling 80 

Soda Fountain Profits 19 

Cafeteria Management 11 

Food Service Posters 48 

How to Prevent Food Spoilage lOOe 

Restaurant Profit Makers lOOg 

BEVERAGES 

Modern Cocktail Handbook 25 

Modern Wine and Liquor Control 29 

Rapid Liquor Calculator lOOd 

Barman's Manual 43 

Wine Parade 88 

Book of Hors d'Oeuvres 100c 

Dictionary of 200 Alcoholic Beverages 24 

FOOD PREPARATION 

Jean's Salad Book 30 

Profitable Fruit Preparation 31 

Handbook of Hot Breads 33 

Profitable Chinese Recipes 13 

92 Appetizers and Relishes 54 

100 Low Cost Summer Recipes 77 

114 Profitable Cheese Recipes 78 

Mexican Cookery 82 

breakfast Profits 66 

Canape Parade 87 

Professional Cake Baking 34 

Pie Baking Secrets 38 

100 Sauces and Gravies 36 

Oyster Profits 62 

Profitable Fish Recipes 40 

Salad Dressing and Dessert Sauces 46 

325 Profitable Garnishes 39 

Sea Food Dictionary 41 

Popular Commercial Salads 76 

Pudding and Ice Cream Specials 74 

(Continued Inside task caver) 



CONTENTS 



Organizing for Business 3 

Silent Partners 6 

How Good Records Promote Success 7 

What You Need to Know About Your 
Equipment 8 

Furnishings, Decoration, and Maintenance 
Records 11 

Records About Linens and Supplies 18 

Records About Employes 22 

Records About Budgets and Expenditures .. 27 

Records About Buying Sources and Orders .. 34 

Records About Guests 39 

Personal Progress 43 

Decoration Books 44 



Txns 
.L 



ORGANIZING FOR BUSINESS 

The Executive Housekeeper's success begins 
with her outlook toward her job. If she treats it 
as "big business" she can make her job become 
a big one. This is just as true in a small house 
as in a large one. 

Furthermore, conditions in the hotel field are 
by no means static. They are constantly chang- 
ing. Hotels are enlarged, renovated, remodeled. 
Managers change jobs and progress to bigger 
opportunities. If a manager has a good execu- 
tive housekeeper he is likely to take her with 
him to the bigger job. 

In isolated cases she may even become the 
manager of a small house or a medium sized 
apartment or residential hotel. Or she may have 
an opportunity to supervise housekeeping in sev- 
eral hotels belonging to the same chain. But 
she must be better than the average housekeeper 
to get these opportunities. 

The job of housekeeping today is so complex 
that qualities which were desirable ten or twenty 
years ago are of secondary importance now. The 
trend toward building larger houses has brought 
greater responsibility to the housekeeper, and 
has made it necessary for her to be an executive. 

The executive housekeeper needs to apply to 
her department the same principles that any bus- 
iness requires: 

Good organization and sound policies; 

Up-to-date business tools; 

Adequate business records and reports; 



Control methods for inventory, expenditures, 
and standards; 

Methods for coordinating activities with other 
departments, labor saving, waste prevention; 

Standards for doing work, for inspection and 
maintenance. 

In other words, this department needs efficient 
methods which assure the greatest amount of 
comfort and service to guests at the lowest pos- 
sible cost to the hotel. 

The Executive Housekeeper's job requires 
working with both people and things. Handling 
people is the most difficult because they are 
emotional, changing, and many unknown ele- 
ments prompt their reactions. 

In systematizing the housekeeping department 
not much new thought is needed. It is merely 
necessary to adopt and adapt principles, policies, 
and methods which have been successfully used 
in other businesses or other departments of the 
same hotel. 

Simplification is essential. Cumbersome meth- 
ods or systems cost more to maintain than they 
can possibly save. A system should be designed 
for the purpose of making work easier, not 
harder. Records should be available on every 
phase of the daily job . . . filed so that you can 
put your hands on them immediately. Records 
should show a true inventory and a true condi- 
tion of the department's tools, furnishings, and 
equipment at all times. 

The best executives put everything in black 
and white. This includes orders to employes. 
Adopt definite standards for doing certain tasks. 



Teach the staff what these standards are. Es- 
tablish inspection systems to insure that they are 
being followed. 

It is of advantage both to the housekeeper and 
the hotel to have the housekeeping department 
so well organized and its responsibilities so well 
delegated that the housekeeper is never rushed 
or worried or worn out. Thus when emergencies 
arise, or the housekeeper is called upon to at- 
tend meetings of department heads, she shows 
the mental ease and poise of a true executive. 
She can give undivided attention to the affairs 
that are discussed at the meeting, and be able 
to make suggestions that give proof of her abili- 
ty. She cannot do this if her mind is disturbed 
about what may be going on in her department 
while she is away from it. 

If it becomes necessary for the housekeeper 
to be away for a day or two because of illness 
... or a short holiday . . . she should be able 
to go at a moment's notice without ever a worry 
about how things will be done while she is away. 

It should not be necessary for a capable execu- 
tive housekeeper to be a 24-hour worker. So long 
as she does consider herself such, she will never 
be considered a true executive by the manage- 
ment. Nor can she get the happiness which she 
has a right to expect out of life if she allows 
her job to drive her. 

It is only by the judicious investment of leisure 
time and surplus energy that the housekeeper 
can groom herself for greater efficiency and big- 
ger jobs. This is just as much of an investment 
for the hotel that employs her as it is for her 
personally. 



SILENT PARTNERS 

The executive housekeeper is responsible for 
the safeguarding and maintenance of an enor- 
mous investment in furnishings and equipment 
throughout the sleeping rooms and public spaces 
of a hotel. She also supervises the payment 
of large sums for payroll. 

As an executive who must carry great respon- 
sibilities like these, the executive housekeeper is 
entitled to adequate working facilities and to 
such equipment as will make her work easier 
and more accurate. 

First of all, she can do better work if she 
has a private office instead of merely a corner in 
the linen room where countless interruptions 
occur daily. 

Even a hotel of moderate size will find it a 
good investment to provide a capable secretary 
for the executive housekeeper. Such an assistant 
can take care of the bulk of routine work, check 
up on orders for work which have been issued 
to various employes, be continually on hand to 
take care of emergency telephone requests which 
are made as the day progresses, and in innu- 
merable ways spare the executive housekeeper's 
time and energy. Thus the head of this depart- 
ment is free to devote more of her time to plan- 
ning and supervision. 

It is very important that the secretary should 
have a separate office. If the executive house- 
keeper wants to interview maids or assistant 
housekeepers or other employes whom she may 
wish to praise or to discipline, it is much easier 
to do this in private than before another per- 

6 



son — even so trusted a person as her own sec- 
retary . . . easier for both the housekeeper and 
the person being interviewed. Many a person 
will take corrections meekly and humbly in pri- 
vate who will spit back like a wildcat when dis- 
ciplined before another person. 

Outside the housekeeper's office, it is a good 
idea to have a hook on which employes may 
hang notes intended for the housekeeper's at- 
tention. It is surprising to see how much shorter 
a report on some emergency can be when it is 
written than when it is told. Most people dis- 
like writing so they come right to the point. 
Furthermore a written report made out by the 
employe on the spot, eliminates the need for 
the secretary or the housekeeper to take time 
to write out the details. 

This simple system keeps employes from in- 
terrupting the housekeeper and her secretary 
while they are doing other things . . . and gets 
the other fellow back to work sooner. 

HOW GOOD RECORDS PROMOTE 
SUCCESS 

Analysis of an entire record system easily 
shows which reports and data are of greatest 
help to the executive housekeeper who employs 
modern business methods. They fall into sim- 
ple classifications : 

1. Records about working equipment and tools. 

2. Records about furnishings, decorations, and 
maintenance. 

3. Records about linens and supplies. 

4. Records about employes. 

5. Records about budgets and expenditures. 



6. Records about Buying Sources and orders. 

7. Records about guests. 

8. Reference files for "how to" information that 
she unearths in the course of her reading, 
interviews, research study, and from her own 
experience. By this I mean such things as 
directions for how to remove certain kinds 
of stains . . . how to polish certain perishable 
surfaces . . . how to mend various difficult-to- 
handle materials, and so forth. 

For the most part records can be kept on 
4x6 cards, in low stacks of card file drawers 
which fit on top of a small table near the desk. 
These are easy to refer to . . . easy to keep 
up-to-date . . . they don't take up much space 
. . . and cost next to nothing. 

Data which proves most helpful is described 
in succeeding chapters. 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT 
YOUR EQUIPMENT 

Without good tools, the work of the house- 
keeping department would be slowed up to al- 
most a standstill. Payroll would jump enormous- 
ly, and guest complaints would pour in. 

But tools must be properly taken care of in 
order to be kept in good working condition. They 
must be kept track of to prevent loss, as is likely 
to occur in any large organization where a great 
many people have access to the same working 
equipment. 

What do you need to know about equipment 
and tools? First of all, it's a good idea to know 
how much equipment you have . . . what kinds 

8 



. . . where it is . . . who is using it . . . and 
what condition it's in. When you consider buy- 
ing new equipment, your decision is sounder if 
you know just what kind of service the last 
piece of the same make gave in actual use . . . 
how often it had to be repaired . . . how much 
had to be paid out for replacement and new 
parts . . . and how many days it had to be out 
of service while waiting to be repaired. 

With small equipment and hand tools, it helps 
to know how much of it wears out, and how 
much is broken or lost. Which employes come 
around complaining that the last broom or car- 
pet sweeper is no good . . . because it wore out 
too soon? Whose fault it is really . . . the man- 
ufacturer's or the user's? Perhaps the employe 
only needs to be shown how to take better care 
of his or her tools, and how to use them more 
carefully. On the other hand, perhaps you would 
be wiser to buy a better quality ... or a cheaper 
quality and replace it oftener. 

The answers to all of these problems can be 
easily at your finger tips if you keep the fol- 
lowing records about your equipment and tools. 

1. Inventory of Mechanical Equipment 

This includes a complete inventory of mechani- 
cal equipment used by the staff and installed in 
the department, and takes into account all such 
things as vacuum cleaners, carpet sweepers, 
maids' trucks, brushes and brooms, ladders, sew- 
ing machines, carpet-sewing machines, wood- 
working machines, carpet washers, floor polishers 
and sanders, upholstery shop equipment, type- 
writers, and office equipment. 

9 



2. Maintenance Cards 

Each kind of equipment is listed on a separate 
card. This tells what the tool is, its model num- 
ber, date of purchase, name of manufacturer 
and his address or that of his nearest distributor, 
the price and discounts, when the machine was 
last inspected, its condition on last inspection, 
how many times it had to be repaired since you 
bought it, what parts (if any) were replaced, 
cost of repairs and replacements, and the quality 
of service you received in response to repair or- 
ders. If a good machine has to stay out of use 
unnecessarily long because of slow service, it 
is of less value to the house than an almost-as- 
good machine which is kept running. If your 
cost of repairs and replacements mount up to a 
high figure . . . and breakdowns are frequent 
. . . you can't afford not to replace it with a 
better machine which may prove cheaper in the 
long run. 

5. Cleaning and Inspection Schedule for 
Equipment 

Any equipment, from machines to step ladders, 
is only useful and safe if it is kept in good condi- 
tion. Employes should report needed repairs, but 
some are too easy-going to bother about anything 
short of a complete breakdown. Breakdowns 
waste time . . . and shorten the life of equipment. 
Regular inspection and cleaning of all equipment 
and machinery enables you to make minor re- 
pairs that forestall need for costly overhauling 
and gives the utmost service from each piece. 
Not only should you have a schedule for such 

10 



cleaning and inspection . . . but see to it that 
this schedule is lived up to regularly, and unusual 
information noted on the card describing the 
equipment in question. 

FURNISHINGS, DECORATION, AND 
MAINTENANCE RECORDS 

Many a housekeeper has come to a hotel sev- 
eral years after it had been opened. During 
the preceding years many pieces of furniture 
had strayed far from the places they were in- 
tended to grace. 

As she tackles the job of unscrambling the fur- 
nishings, the housekeeper realizes that any suc- 
cessful system for keeping things straight should 
should begin with the time when the house is 
first equipped. There must be an accurate record 
of each piece of furniture, every pair of draperies, 
all the accessories such as lamps and pictures and 
vases. Then there should be some simple means 
of identifying each piece so that even the green- 
est employe could tell merely by looking at the 
piece, just where it ought to belong. 

Scout around to see what records you might be 
able to find that will help you start such records: 
These are what you may dig up — if you're 
lucky: 

1. Blue Print of the Entire House 

How many, many steps — no, miles of walking 
— might be saved merely if you had this in your 
desk! How many times you can avoid all risk of 
error in measuring curtains and carpets by hav- 
ing these blue prints to check against! They're 
invaluable to the housekeeper. She should by 

11 



all means make sure that she gets a set for her 
own personal use. The chances are that such a 
set may be "reposing in the archives" of the ar- 
chitect's office, which she could get as easily as 
not. 

2. Original Inventory for Furniture and Color 
Schemes 

By "original inventory" I mean the record 
drawn up by the decorator and used to check the 
physical equipment before the final invoices were 
paid. 

In many cases this is a simple record of each 
floor in the house . . . and each room on every 
fioor . . . showing exactly what pieces of furni- 
ture it contained and what fabrics and colors 
were used for accompanying decorations. These 
furnishings are usually all indicated by style 
numbers, so that it is necessary, too, to have orig- 
inal invoices or duplicates of the original orders, 
in order to know what each piece looked like, 
who made it, etc. 

For example, let's borrow one entry from the 
Chart of Furnishings and Furniture of our 14th 
Floor of a metropolitan hotel. Across the top of 
the page we have these headings : Room No. ; Car- 
pet; Wall; Draperies; Bed; Chest or Dresser; 
Dressing Table; Mirror; Desk; Chairs, straight; 
Chairs, upholstered; Stands; Lamps; Pictures. 
Running down the page at the extreme left hand 
side, is the list of room numbers on the four- 
teenth floor, sometimes running into several 
pages of numbers. Reading from left to right, is 
filled in the information called for. As an exam- 
ple: Room 1401 has Carpet, green velevt No. , 

12 



Style , Manufacturer's name ; Wall: 

Floral paper No. , Mfgr. . Draperies: 

Chintz, peach, No. , Mfgr. ; Bed, 2 green 

painted No. , Style , Mfgr. ; and so 

on through the list of furnishings. 

With this as a guide, it is easy for the house- 
keeper to restore the house to its original plan 
which had been worked out by a highly skilled 
decorator. After this feat is accomplished it is 
easy for her to buy the right pieces when re- 
placements are necessary. 

Of course, you can seldom spare the time, or 
get the extra help, to do this job all at once. But 
if you take a section at a time, and you will soon 
complete a whole floor. Encouraged by the re- 
sults you will be eager to go through the whole 
house. Every bit of this work can be done in 
spare time, running it in between other jobs and 
doing as much as possible whenever you run into 
a slight slack period. 

When you notice that some rooms need replace- 
ments oftener than others, it's a good idea to 
find out why. It's easy if you start a set of 
records which give a bird's eye view of the main- 
tenance and upkeep cost for each individual room 
in the house. No forms existed which could tell 
this information all on one card, so Miss Margaret 
Barnes drew up her own card. It's compact, sim- 
ple, and complete. It's certainly a timesaver. It's 
called the 

5. Cost and Renovation Card 

In the first column at the left, enter the room 
number and its size (dimensions in number feet). 
Allow a full line for data regarding- each of the 

13 



following: painting, wall paper, ceiling, bath, car- 
pet, chaise lounge, 3 lines for arm chairs, 1 line 
each for side chair, tub chair, Dutch chair, sofa, 
settee, drapery, lampshades, bed, bureau, somnoe, 
desk, costumer, trunk stand, dressing table, smok- 
ing stands, etc. 

In the next columns, enter the order number 
of the material used, and the name of its manu- 
facturer, the quantity purchased, its cost, and the 
date of installations. 

Every time any repairing or renovating is done, 
these facts are entered about the job. In time 
this record tells how well things stand up under 
actual use. 

For instance, before buying fabric to recover 
an armchair, check back to the room's Cost and 
Renovation Card to see when it was last done. 
If it was done quite recently investigate to see 
why it must be repeated so soon. If the damage 
was caused by a guest, you can't do anything 
about it, except report the accident to the man- 
ager's offce to see if it is advisable to make a 
charge. If an employe mishandled it, make sure 
that he is shown how to avoid a repetition of his 
mistake. If the fabric or finish did not give good 
service, don't buy it again but replace it with 
something better. 

This system is a great time saver and has been 
worth many times its weight in gold. It backs 
up the housekeeper's buying judgment with 
facts that carry real authority. 

Double-Checking Your System 

These records cannot be accurate indications 
of the wear your furniture actually gets unless 

14 



you have a reliable system for keeping each piece 
of furniture in the room where it belongs . . . 
most of the time, at any rate. 

Some houses achieve this by using little metal 
plates on which the room is embossed. These 
plates are tacked to the underside of chairs, 
sofas, tables, desks, beds, dressers, and every 
piece of furniture that can possible carry them. 
The room number is sewed to backs of carpets, 
and important fabrics just as dry cleaners iden- 
tification tags are. 

This simple device also goes a long way toward 
helping every employe who ever has occasion to 
handle furniture do his or her share toward keep- 
ing each piece of furniture where it belongs. 
They don't need to bother trying to match up 
color schemes . . . but merely to look at the room 
number, and put the the piece in question in the 
room indicated. 

4. Inventory of Reserve Stock of Furniture 
and Decorative Fabrics 

It's a very human characteristic that employes 
never value your possessions any more highly 
than you do yourself. If you don't keep track of 
what you have in the way of upholstery yardage, 
the number of pieces of each kind of furnish- 
ings . . . and have an accurate record of the con- 
dition of each group, it will be difficult to make 
employes feel a personal responsibility for tak- 
ing the best care of those things, and for using 
them economically to make goods go as far as 
possible. 

In order to get this knowledge, take actual 
physical inventory of the following things: 

15 



Reserve stocks of drapery fabrics, linings, 
fringes, accessories needed for making draperies, 
and of drapery hardware. 

Reserve stocks of carpet and upholstery fab- 
rics, guimpe, similar accessories, such as casters, 
glides, springs, linings, extra hair and cotton pad- 
ding, etc. 

Reserve stock of mattresses . . . kind, size, age, 
condition, and a note as to where they are stored. 
It's wise to keep some mattresses in each floor 
closet for emergency calls at night. 

Reserve stock of chairs, desks, tables, beds, 
dressers, other furniture and accessories, by ac- 
tual style number, together with the description 
of covering. 

Reserve stock of wall paper, identified by num- 
ber, manufacturer's name, and the color of the 
pattern. As a cross reference, keep in your 
office an actual sample book of wall papers show- 
ing a swatch of each piece. These books (sup- 
plied by wallpaper manufacturers or dealers) are 
about 8 by 12 inches in size and very convenient 
to carry about on inspection trips through the 
house when planning renovation schedules. 

Reserve stock of paint, varnish, polish, 
brushes, waxes, oils, varnish and paint remov- 
ers, etc. 

Complete record of summer and winter lobby 
carpets, furniture, decorative fabrics, and acces- 
sories. Incidentally if all lobby rugs are num- 
bered, the housemen can tell exactly where 
each rug is to go before they unroll it. Corre- 
sponding numbers should be indicated on a 
chart of the lobby and public spaces which 
shows where each rug belongs. This numbered 

16 



chart is given to the houseman before he lays 
the rugs. 

Still other reference books which executive 
housekeepers find valuable consist of drapery 
and upholstery sample folders in which they 
paste an actual swatch of every fabric kept on 
hand. Thus when a new set of draperies is to 
be made for a room which is being done over, 
the department head simply gets out the swatch 
books, and matches up the right draperies, up- 
holstery fabrics, wallpaper or paint color, and 
carpet tones. From these, one can judge just 
about how the finished room will look. On 
trips through the house to plan renovation 
schedules, efficient executives always carry the 
drapery books along to match up colors with 
each room's furniture. Each piece of fabric is 
identified by its style number, color, name of 
fabric, name of manufacturer, and the price. 
The upholstery book also should contain an up- 
to-date record of the yardage on hand. Thus 
when either of two or three fabrics will serve 
equally well, you can choose the one there's 
plenty of rather than put through a special 
order for another one. This helps to keep re- 
serve stocks of decorative fabrics pretty well 
balanced, and to keep investment consistently 
low. 

The head upholsterer should keep this last 
book up to date. His pride in keeping his rec- 
ords so accurately that the actual physical in- 
ventory comes out within a fraction of a yard 
is enough to convince housekeepers who try 
the plan that he uses materials more carefully 
when he knows how much they cost. He feels a 

17 



personal responsibility in preventing loss or 
damage due to careless handling of his em- 
ployes, and keeps his store of goods in neat 
bolts, all systematically pigeonholed in labeled 
shelves. 

RECORDS ABOUT LINENS AND 
SUPPLIES 

The only complete linen control systems now 
in existence are very expensive to install, and 
to maintain. 

Linen records which have proved indispensible 
follow : 

1. Par Stock List on Each Closet Door 

On the inside of each linen closet door, post 
an itemized list of the linen which should be 
kept in that closet each day. Arrive at the cor- 
rect figures by checking up on the actual 
number of beds and rooms in that section. 
For example, count the actual number of beds, 
then indicate how many double sheets, and how 
many single sheets should be kept on hand. 
To estimate the supply of towels, multiply the 
number of double rooms by the standard num- 
ber of towels alloted to each double room . . . 
and the number of single and twin rooms by 
the standard of towels for those. And so on 
through the list. 

Working on a three-par basis, keep one full 
set of linen in the rooms and on the beds, one 
full set in floor linen closets, and the third in 
the laundry. Thus the total supply of linen in 
sectional floor closets should be equal to the 
amount that is on the beds in that section. 

18 



When the linen deliveryman replenishes the 
stocks in each closet he needs only to count the 
amount of each kind of linen left on the shelves, 
compare it with the number of pieces listed on 
the par list, and leave the difference between 
the two figures. For example, if he should find 
20 small hand towels on the shelves when the 
door list calls for 120, he would leave 100 more. 

Does he really count the linen each day? How 
do you know he always leaves as much as he is 
supposed to? At random intervals every two 
or three days, inspectresses should check the 
count just after closets have been refilled. If 
there are shortages, she reports them to the 
laundry manager who in turn calls them to 
the attention of the deliveryman. The latter 
has no alibi if, when he makes his delivery, he 
is required to sign a slip which lists the amount 
of linen he is supposed to have left in that closet, 
and to give this slip to the floor housekeeper or 
inspectress. 

2. Inventory of Linen in Mending Room 

Naturally the supply which may be found here 
fluctuates from time to time according to the 
age of linen, the rate of occupancy, and the 
number of seamstresses employed. 

5. Record of Mending Output for Each 
Seamstress 

You will find that seamstresses work more 
consistently if they have to report the number 
of pieces they finish each day. It gives them 
a sense of accomplishment, and gives a basis 

19 



of comparison of the work done by different 
women. 

4. Inventory of Circulating Linen 

This is an actual physical inventory which is 
taken every six months. It consists of an actual 
count of the amount of linen on the beds and 
in guestrooms, in sectional floor closets, in the 
mending room, and in the laundry. Keep a 
separate record of the linen discarded during 
the current period. By adding the two sets 
of figures together, you should get the figures 
you had to start with at the beginning of that 
period. You don't get those totals, of course, 
because there are always some losses. But the 
difference between the actual figures, and those 
you should get shows how much linen has been 
lost. You can then get busy to trace those losses 
as far as is in your power. 

5. Inventory of New Reserve Linen 

When the house is running at a high rate of 
occupancy, farsighted executives feel that so 
long as money is tied up in linen it might as 
well be working, therefore they lean toward 
larger circulating stocks and less on store 
shelves. 

6. Summary of Linen Distribution 

In addition to records of linen in various de- 
partments, described above, you need a bird's- 
eye view of the entire situation — a summary to 
show exactly how linen is distributed. 

Keep such a record on one sheet which is di- 
vided to provide space for these headings across 
the top: Kinds of linen in closets; Floor num- 

20 



bers; Total linen on floors in rooms; Total linen 
on floors in closets; Total linen in laundry. 
Down the page in the first left hand column, 
list the contents of each closet as follows: 

Lavatory Towels (crest), Face Towels, Bath 
Towels, Bath mats, Pillow cases, Large sheets, 
Small sheets, Large spreads, Small spreads. The 
same items are repeated for closets B and C 
on each floor. 

The final totals on this sheet tell the follow- 
ing information: 

Sub-total for closets Par set No. 1 

Sub-total for rooms Par set No. 2 

Sub-total for laundry Par set No. 3 

Grand total of linen in circulation 

7. Record of Supplies 

This class includes such items as small and 
large stationery; blotters; ink and inkwells; 
house directory; laundry lists; hangers; matches; 
candles; thread, white and black; pins, common 
and safety; soap, face and bath; razor cloth; 
wash cloth; telegram blanks; pen holders and 
points; Gehring Travel Guide; valet lists; paper 
to line wastebaskets; paper to line bureau draw- 
ers; buttons, black and white; toilet paper; 
shoe cloth; souvenir toilet packets, etc. 

B. Cleaning Supplies 

These are not hard to keep track of if you 
standardize on a few good tested cleaning com- 
pounds rather than take chances buying a lot 
of different things. 

In addition to actual cleaning compounds, 
keep a record of the small handtools which 

21 



maids use for their daily work; such things as 
brooms, brushes, dustpans, scrub buckets, car- 
pet sweepers, hand vacuums, etc. 

Employes tend to take better care of their 
tools if fney are charged with them. For that 
reason many houses issue to each employe her 
own set of everything. Whenever possible those 
tools are identified by painting on the maid's 
section number. When she is through for the 
day, she locks up her tools, hence can really be 
held responsible for their condition at all times. 
Naturally a record must show what tools were 
issued to each girl; when issued; what condi- 
tion they were in when issued. 

Keep an inventory of new things in reserve 
store; together with data that is helpful when 
buying replacements; such as the manufactur- 
er's name and address; his nearest representa- 
tive; date of last order; order number of items 
bought; quantity bought; price; how long be- 
fore deliveries were made, etc. 

RECORDS ABOUT EMPLOYES 

Importance of Application Records 

When the staff is any size beyond a baker's 
dozen, it pays to keep a written record of facts 
you get when the employe applied for the job 
. . . just the usual data that may come in handy 
if you ever need to look it up. What is her full 
name? Where does she live? Has she a tele- 
phone at home ? Has she a family ? How large ? 
How many are dependent upon her for total or 
partial support? Where did she work before? 
What did she do there? How long did she stay 
there? Why did she leave her last position? 

22 



What did her references say? When was she 
employed by you? How good has her work 
for you been? What do guests say about her 
work? Do they compliment or complain? What 
do inspectresses and floor housekeepers say 
about it? Does she score a high average, or 
must she be continually checked up on? Does 
she take correction and suggestions good na- 
turedly and try to improve? Or is she saucy 
and defiant? How often has she been absent or 
tardy? Is she reliable? 

Once the executive housekeeper has all this 
data at hand, she can back her judgment with 
facts when she has to choose which employe to 
promote ... or to fire. 

Time Records 

Time clocks are most reliable for keeping 
records of arrivals and departures. But con- 
siderable time may be lost waiting in line at 
the employes' entrance if all employes have to 
ring up on one clock. 

For that reason it is better to have a separate 
smaller time clock in the linen room for house- 
keeping employes. This gives the linen room 
supervisor a chance to double check the time 
card and make sure that no one rings up an- 
other's time card. Of course it would cost too 
much to have a separate time clock for every 
department . . . but there can easily be one 
clock for every group of related departments. 
This method permits a comparative check . . . 
it tells when employes were really ready to 
start working, not merely when they entered 
the doorway. 

23 



Payroll Records 

The payroll record and budget must be flex- 
ible because it should vary with the house 
count. 

Systematic housekeepers prefer to keep this 
data in a looseleaf book in which daily entries 
are made for each employe to show whether 
absent or present; if absent whether with or 
without pay. Use a line (/) to indicate that the 
employe is present with pay; and to indicate ab- 
sence with pay; and a zero (0) to show absence 
without pay. Thus, each day there must be 
some sort of entry after each name to show 
that the housekeeper has checked up on that 
employe for that day. 

In larger houses, the first assistant keeps this 
employe payroll record. In other hotels the as- 
sistant housekeeper, head houseman, head up- 
holsterers, each keep a small time book and 
mark the various employes under their super- 
vision as above. 

When this system is used, each day the sum- 
mary of attendance should be copied onto the 
large payroll sheet to be sent to the accounting 
office. 

Payroll Budget and Stagger Plan for Slow 
Times 

The amount the housekeeper is permitted to 
spend for payroll is usually determined by the 
number of rooms in the hotel, the area of pub- 
lic spaces to be supervised and cleaned, the 
standard of upkeep required by the manage- 
ment, the number and size of daily functions, 
and the kinds of service it is necessary to main- 

24 



tain. All these factors influence the amount of 
work to be done, as well as the percentage of 
occupancy. 

It is economical to use a stagger plan for 
slow times. Each maid is required to take off 
a certain number of days a month . . . according 
to the percentage of occupancy. While she is 
gone, other maids take over part of her work. 
When they are off, she does part of theirs. This 
method works out well because it keeps payroll 
totals down to a minimum, but yet keeps the 
best employes on the roll and gives them all 
something to do. At the same time it protects 
the house against shortage of labor in case of 
sudden rush work. 

6. Assignments of Work — Report of Finished 
Work 

Each maid gets her assignment from the 
housekeeper's office in the first place. When she 
is working on a steady schedule, she follows her 
established routine under the supervision of the 
floor housekeeper. She reports work done to 
the floor housekeeper. The first thing in the 
morning each maid takes her vacancy list, which 
gives her an automatic assignment for her day's 
work. Housemen check their work as fast as 
it is finished on an assignment list which hangs 
in the houseman's closet on each floor. This 
list is posted there by the head houseman on 
the first of each month. The same system is 
followed by window cleaners and polishers. 

This assignment list for housemen can really 
be identical to your vacancy lists. As fast as 
each houseman or window cleaner finishes a 

25 



batch of rooms, he writes in the date after the 
number of rooms that he finished that day. 
The next day he tackles another group of rooms, 
and writes in that date opposite those numbers. 
Thus simply by referring to these lists, the floor 
housekeeper can tell which rooms she is to in- 
spect for each houseman. 

When the maid has finished her work, she 
turns in her list of rooms to the floor house- 
keeper who then inspects the work. As fast as 
rooms are done, the floor clerk or assistant 
housekeeper reports to the front office. Depar- 
ture lists, too, are okayed by the maid and by 
the assistant housekeeper, and sent to the house- 
keeper's office daily — then filed for one month 
in case of question as to who okayed the room. 
Such questions sometimes arise in connection 
with property which may have been overlooked, 
as may happen when guests put things under 
the pillows after the beds have been made, or 
in the very back corner of a drawer. 

7. How Keys are Handled 

At night maids' keys are either kept at the 
floor clerk's desk or in the linen room. In the 
morning they are given out by the floor clerk 
or the linen room woman with the assistance 
of the assistant housekeeper. New keys are 
kept by the executive housekeeper herself be- 
cause it is a serious thing in a hotel when a 
key is lost. New keys are never issued until 
every effort has been made to find out where 
the old one went. To prevent loss, keys should 
be carried on a key strap which is identified 
with the floor and section number. 

26 



Each maid is instructed where to leave her 
keys when going off duty . . . that keys should 
under no circumstances be carried out of the 
building. 

Master keys are carried only by the manager 
and such department heads as the housekeeper, 
engineer, front office manager, and head house 
officer. The floor housekeeper uses the floor 
master key, which sometimes suffices for two or 
three floors. 

Maids are also instructed about the use of 
keys in letting guests or visitors into rooms. In 
most houses maids are not allowed to open 
doors for guests unless positive that they occupy 
the rooms to be opened. Visitors are not allowed 
to get in with the maid's key unless the maid 
has been previously instructed to let that par- 
ticular person in. Only the floor clerk may do 
this . . . the maid never. As a rule maids are 
instructed to refer guests to the front office. 
When visitors come in while guests are out, 
if permission has been arranged for at the of- 
fice, the bell boy shows the visitor to the room. 

RECORDS ABOUT BUDGETS AND 
EXPENDITURES 

Living within one's means is just as essential 
to the success of a business as of an individual. 
Both business and individuals have learned that 
lesson within the past few years. 

Therefore it is not at all surprising that up- 
to-date hotel managements should demand from 
the housekeeping department a detailed fore- 

27 



cast of necessary expenditures upon which to 
budget its appropriations in advance. 

It is only when the manager has a complete 
picture of the heavy repairs and maintenance 
jobs that must be done in addition to day-to-day 
upkeep that he can weigh the relative value 
of different things on the schedule. If it is nec- 
essary to curtail expenditures, he can decide 
well in advance just which things must be done 
now and which can be postponed or eliminated. 
He and the executive housekeeper together can 
often strike a happy compromise which makes 
it possible to spread the appropriation over all 
of the most necessary things, by cutting off a 
little here and a little there throughout the list. 

Without such advance plans, the first things 
that came up would eat up the appropriation, 
and the last things would be sidetracked for 
lack of funds. 

From a strictly personal and selfish stand- 
point, working on a budget makes it possible 
for the housekeeper to prove her value in black 
and white. It is an indication of good business 
efficiency for the housekeeper to be able to 
analyze the condition of her house so thoroughly 
that she can include in her budget all of the 
really important expenditures that will come 
up . . . and then to manage her buying and 
plan her staff's work so well that she can get 
the scheduled work done within her allowance 
or appropriation. 

In a typical house budgets are divided into 
the following classifications: 

Linen replacements. 

Linen upkeep and mending. 

28 



Carpet replacements and renovation. 

Furniture and furniture covering. 

Drapery and accessories. 

Payroll. 

Regular decorating (Touching up woodwork, 
etc.). 

Decorating extraordinary (complete redeco- 
rating). 

Supplies and equipment for regular mainte- 
nance. 

Before you can begin to draw up these budg- 
ets, two major jobs must be done. The first is 
a complete inventory of linen in circulation and 
reserve, an inventory of supplies and equipment, 
and of reserve stores of decorating materials 
such as carpets, furniture coverings, drapery fab- 
rics, etc. The second is a complete inspection of 
the entire house which the executive housekeep- 
er should make personally at least once every six 
months. During this trip she can analyze every 
single room more critically than at any other 
time. In a notebook, enter a full description 
of everything that each room needs to have 
done to it in order to make it good for another 
half-year's occupancy. Armed with these two 
sets of basic information, it is possible to pro- 
ceed to compile the forecast of expenditures for 
each section of the housekeeping department, 
about as follows: 

1. Linen Replacements and Upkeep 

The amount to be spent for new linen during 
the coming year will depend upon the amount 
of linen now in circulation in proportion to the 
average room ocupancy. No house can afford to 

29 



economize below a three par supply for the 
average number of rooms used, plus enough 
more linen to take care of the peak periods and 
such emergency situations as arise when a holi- 
day follows Sunday and the laundry is not work- 
ing . . . That means, enough linen to run for 
four full days. 

How to get Basic Data for Budgets 

After making your semi-annual trip of spe- 
cial inspection for the redecorating analysis, 
draw up budgets for each type of work by "post- 
ing" on different sheets the data contained in 
the notebook. 

For example, analyze every room in the same 
order . . . starting with the ceiling, mouldings, 
sidewalls, pictures, furniture, woodwork, floor 
and carpet, windows (glass curtains, shades, 
draperies and fixtures), doors (finish, lock, and 
hinges), etc. Then examine each piece of furni- 
ture closely. Does it need repair? Does it need 
polishing or to have scars or scratches removed ? 
Does it require refinishing? Does it need re- 
covering? Does it need to have inside filling 
renovated as well as to have the outside cover- 
ing replaced or remade ? Or will it do perfectly 
well merely by having it cleaned? Or is it all 
right just as it is? 

At the same time, indicate what pattern and 
color the room is papered with ... or what 
color paint; what style and color of furniture, 
and what pattern and color of upholstery fab- 
rics; what pattern and kind of fabric is used 
for present draperies; what color and pattern 
carpet, and whether it needs to be merely 

30 



cleaned, cleaned and turned, repaired, complete- 
ly remade, or replaced altogether. 

Thus when you are ready to make postings on 
to various budget sheets, you have before you all 
the information needed to give a complete pic- 
ture of every room in the house. This is when 
the blue print of the house proves invaluable 
in estimating the actual amount of new carpet 
needed, and in telling whether the carpet which 
must be remade will fit another room. The Cost 
and Renovation Card tells just when any room 
in question was last gone over, and exactly 
what was done and how much it cost . . . which 
things were replaced, how much was paid for 
them, and where they came from. 

Backed by this information, every judgment 
the housekeeper makes as to new things needed 
is based on actual facts. 

2. Carpet Replacements and Renovation 

Divide the carpet budget into columns to show 
which rooms must have carpets cleaned; which 
must be cleaned and repaired; which must be 
remade; and which must have new carpet. 

Estimate the number of hours of labor needed 
to remake good carpets; the amount needed for 
cleaning carpets; the number of yards of new 
carpets needed (how many are in reserve, and 
how many must be purchased) ; how many hours 
of labor will be needed to make up and lay new 
carpets. The two final totals tell how much 
must be spent for payroll, and how much for 
new carpets and accessories for the coming six 
months if you are to carry out the program 
before you. 

31 



If you cannot spend that much you can try 
to cut where it will show the least, but to do 
all that is possible to make the house look in 
A-l condition. 

5. Furniture and Furniture Covering 

In this classification, tabulate the number of 
pieces of furniture which must be replaced, 
those which can be repaired (and an estimate 
of time and materials needed to do this) ; and 
the number of hours labor needed for repolish- 
ing and refinishing furniture. The three final 
totals tell: 1. How much new furniture must 
be bought; 2. How much must be spent for new 
materials for renovating furniture; and 3. How 
much payroll will be needed to get this work 
done. 

4. Draperies and Accessories 

When making the thorough room-by-room in- 
spection, indicate in each case whether the drap- 
eries are perfectly good, whether they need to 
be turned and refringed, whether they must be 
completely remade, or perhaps to be replaced 
with new. After you get back to your office 
you can separate the record of new draperies 
needed according to the material they are made 
cf . . . indicate the style (lined or unlined . . . 
with valances or without . . . straight or tie 
back . . . finished with fringe or plain-hemmed, 
etc.). 

Final figures tell how many new draperies 
must be made, how much of this material is 
on hand and how much must be bought, how 

32 



many hours labor will be required for new drap- 
eries, and how many to renovate old. 

5. Payroll Budget 

This appropriation is really made up last be- 
cause it is subject to changes brought about by 
additions or curtailments in other budgets. It 
includes : 

1. Estimated payroll necessary for day-to-day 
upkeep. This figure is absolutely dependent up- 
on room occupancy, hence flexible. You will 
see how to keep it as low as possible by review- 
ing the description of the stagger plan described 
in the chapter on Payroll. 

2. Estimated payroll for regular maintenance 
and decorating. This includes such things as 
wall washing and touching up woodwork which 
has been washed several times between paint- 
ing, repairing such furniture as needs attention 
from day to day, and doing all the emergency 
jobs that are necessary to keep up the general 
appearance of a house. This figure, too, is sub- 
ject to change. If you are undertaking a heavy 
program of complete renovation and redecora- 
tion, then naturally you need to do less "regular 
upkeep work." If ambitious renovation pro- 
grams are out of question, more upkeep work 
will be necessary. If you have just finished re- 
decorating a large portion of the house, then 
naturally less of this ordinary touch up work 
will be needed. 

3. Estimated payroll for complete redecorat- 
ing. It is, of course, up to the management to 
decide how much of this can be afforded. The 
executive housekeeper turns in her estimate of 

33 



how much she believes the house requires, based 
upon her observation of its actual condition. 
If the management decides to renovate a large 
portion of the house, figure the payroll budget 
from the amount of work to be done. If less is 
to be done, she has to adjust her estimate of 
work necessary for regular maintenance as 
described in the preceding section. 

6. Supplies and Equipment 

Here again the previous year's experience 
guides you. You can tell from the room oc- 
cupancy, how many employes you will need, and 
approximately how much cleaning compound 
you must have, how much equipment will be 
necessary. 

BUYING SOURCES AND ORDERS 

As a shopper the housekeeper is in a difficult 
position because she depends to a great extent 
upon sources of supply that come to her. She 
is tied down to such a great degree that she is 
not at liberty to go out shopping from store 
to store to compare values, like her sisters who 
run private homes. 

Salesmen are the arteries of trade informa- 
tion for housekeepers and should be allowed to 
show their samples and, if possible, to demon- 
strate what their product will do under hotel 
conditions. 

One hour set aside for interviews each day 
is well spent. It is wise to make this hour come 
at a time when it does not interfere with other 
w T ork . . . between 4 and 5 in the afternoon. At 
other times, see salesmen by appointment. It 

34 



saves the housekeeper's time and that of her 
callers' too, to have a sign posted outside the 
office door which reads: "Kindly call between 
4 and 5 unless you have an appointment." 

2. Key File to Important Sources and Samples 

It pays to keep the most important cata- 
logues; also a regulation three-drawer file for 
samples of materials which are bought fre- 
quently. Each sample should be keyed with the 
pattern number and color; the manufacturer's 
name and address; the address and name of his 
nearest representative or dealer; the price and 
discount to you; also the correct name of that 
particular item as it is known to the manufac- 
turer, and the date when it was submitted since 
there is no use ordering an item which has been 
thrown out of the line. When a new sample 
comes in, take out the old one and file this 
instead. 

Sometimes it is difficult to tell exactly which 
catalogue to refer to for some product. Rather 
than take time to go through several, you can 
save time by keeping a handy card file on your 
desk which serves as a key or guide to tell 
just where to look. File these cards under the 
name of the article, and give the name of every 
manufacturer whose product you may want to 
consider when buying that particular thing. 
Write in the date when the representative called 
and the price of the article. You'd be surprised 
to know how much time and uncertainty this 
little record saves. Indicate where you can find 
the catalogue or sample when you need further 
data. 

35 



For example, under "Painting," you might 
have cards which tell about various hardwood 
finishes, special enamels, various decorating 
finishes, the address of a man who is a specialist 
on antique finishing, the name of a firm who has 
lovely pictures you may want to see before buy- 
ing again, a special picture hook, the names of 
firms who do special types of cleaning or dyeing. 

Other cards might tell how to count threads 
in examining new carpet . . . how many threads 
to look for in selecting single damask, double 
damask, sheets and cases, towels, and similar 
things. Really it's a good idea to save all buy- 
ing data which can possibly help in making more 
intelligent selections. Still others will perhaps 
contain recipes for different methods of remov- 
ing certain stains or of making certain tests 
on fabrics and compounds. 

Just one precaution in connection with sam- 
ples. If the manufacturer wants his sample back, 
always check the number of the material and 
date when it was received, and when returned. 
Be sure to secure the signature of the messenger 
from the firm to which samples were returned. 
If your messenger takes them back, have him 
get the signature of the person who received the 
material. This simple precaution will save many 
arguments and possible hard feelings, because 
samples are often much more valuable than they 
appear to be . . . especially if there are no dupli- 
cates available without delay and an important 
prospect is burning up the telephone with urgent 
demands to see them at once or else the order 
will be lost. 

36 



5. Testing Materials and Fabrics 

How can the executive housekeeper test mate- 
rials submitted to her? What qualities should 
she test for? How should she use those test 
results in buying? 

Samples of materials for upholstery or drap- 
eries should be put through tests for wear sim- 
ilar to the wear they must stand up under. The 
Renovation record can be relied upon to show 
which types of materials stood up best for you 
if you keep it up-to-date. It is described earlier 
in this manual. As a second precaution success- 
ful executives recommend buying only from reli- 
able firms. 

In order to find out if certain fabrics are sun 
and tub proof, wash them and allow them to dry 
in the sun at least ten times. To test non-wash- 
able fabrics, soil the sample by rubbing it on a 
dusty window sill, soiled hands, or on the floor 
to get it real dirty, and have it cleaned several 
times with a reliable cleaning fluid, to see if it 
fades or streaks, or if it gets dingy, or becomes 
rough. 

Shrinkage tests may be performed by taking 
actual measurements of an article, comparing 
them with the size indicated on the ticket, hav- 
ing the article washed not less than five or ten 
times, and measuring it again after the first, 
third, fifth, and tenth washing to see how much 
it has shrunk, and whether it continued to shrink 
after the first washing, as some things do. 

4. Purchasing Records and Systems 

When your budgets have been accepted, you 
are ready to place orders . . . for the year's 

37 



supply on a contract basis whenever you can if 
you want to save money by taking advantage 
of large-quantity prices. Many manufacturers 
allow customers to stipulate that a certain 
amount of each article shall be called in each 
month so that expenditures can be distributed 
over the entire year. 

Here's an outline of a practical simplified buy- 
ing procedure worked out in well-run houses. 

The Cost and Renovation card can give you 
a record of previous purchases for comparison. 
Then you can refer to your file of samples and 
prices before buying anything that is submitted 
by the salesman who happened to call at the 
time you are in the market. 

The actual purchase order is made out by 
the housekeeper's secretary in triplicate. It is 
signed by the housekeeper, okayed by the man- 
ager, and sent to the manufacturer. The carbon 
comes back to your office to show that the order 
has been accepted in full. The date of the con- 
firmation is stamped to show when to expect 
the goods. 

The manager's copy goes in an "Unfilled Or- 
der" book file. When filled, it is removed from 
there and put in the regular file, which is cleaned 
out every six months. Undelivered orders are 
checked over twice a week by the secretary. 
When the goods come in, the receiving clerk en- 
ters in his receiving book the name of the article, 
the quantity, date received, and firm's name. A 
notice of this data is sent to the housekeeper's 
office, so that the secretary can check the ship- 
ment against the invoice, which is then sent to 
the accounting office. Before she lets this in- 

38 



voice get out of her hands, she also checks it 
against the original order. If completely filled, 
she files the order. If not, she keeps it in her 
pending file and checks up on the balance in a 
few days. 

RECORDS ABOUT GUESTS 

The guest is not always right . . . except in 
advertisements. His actions, whether intentional 
or accidental, may result in serious and expen- 
sive experiences for the management. And most 
of these originate in the domain governed by the 
housekeeping department. 

Obviously good management dictates that each 
guest must be treated with respect and courtesy 
both from the standpoint of good will and of 
legal protection. No employe of a hotel should 
ever take it upon himself or herself to make 
accusations, but most of us know that we must 
always be on guard. 

Certain simple records, if kept religiously by 
the housekeeper, will enable her to handle wisely 
most of the emergencies which arise. These rec- 
ords should include: 

1. Report of Damage and Breakage 

There are three reasons why the housekeeper 
should keep a record of breakages and damage 
done to furniture and fixtures by guests. First, 
if the manager receives this report in time, he 
is often able to charge the guest for replace- 
ments. Second, the damage may be covered by 
insurance. For example, not all housekeepers 
know that some types of fire insurance also 
cover damage to carpets and upholstered furni- 

39 



ture which has been caused by cigar or cigarette 
burns. It is a good idea for the housekeeper to 
investigate and find out if her house is covered 
by such a policy. Third, when replacement time 
comes, the housekeeper is absolved from blame 
for heavy expenditures caused by damage done 
by guests if she has a complete record of such 
accidents to show just how much expense was 
due to such causes, and who caused the damage. 
Occasionally too, it is possible, to assign careless 
guests who are ruthless in destroying costly dec- 
orations in private suites, to less luxurious ap- 
pointment a second time, and thus reduce fu- 
ture losses. 

2. Report of Crime or Suspicious Actions 

No record of these are kept in the housekeep- 
er's office, but the housekeeper can do much to 
prevent unfavorable publicity and sometimes 
even to prevent crime, if she will make it a 
point to train her staff to report to her all sus- 
picious actions which they may observe. Prompt 
action on the housekeeper's part in relaying such 
reports to the front office will often enable the 
management to thwart evil plans, protect its 
guests, and uphold the reputation of the house. 

5. Lost and Found 

Maids usually turn in articles which have been 
overlooked by guests either to the floor clerk or 
to the linen room. There a description of the 
article, the date on which it was found, the 
number of the room where it was left, and any 
identifying marks, are all entered on a lost and 
found sheet which is made in duplicate. Keep 

40 



one copy of it for the department's record, and 
send a copy with the article to the lost and 
found department. 

4. Illness 

No special record need be kept of illness, 
except for a temporary note as to the room num- 
ber where the guest is located, special instruc- 
tions for handling the work in that room, and 
information regarding any special services re- 
quested. It is a very gracious thing for the ex- 
ecutive housekeeper to call on guests who are 
ill just to make sure that everything is all right, 
and to ask if her department can do anything 
further to assure the guest's well-being. 

5. Record of Pets in Rooms 

Because certain pets may destroy or damage 
furnishings, it is a good protective measure for 
the housekeeper to keep a notation about pets 
kept in guestrooms, so that she may have some 
evidence in case claims are made for such dam- 
ages. To avoid chances for misunderstanding 
some houses require guests who bring in pets 
to sign the following agreement at the time 
they register: 

Form 291 

THE HOTEL 

Room No 

19 

The undersigned hereby agrees to pay all dam- 
ages done by dog or pet in room, or anywhere 
on the premises. It is also understood that the 
dog must be carried in arms when in elevator, 

41 



and on leash anywhere in the hotel. It is further 
agreed that if the dog becomes troublesome to 
other guests, it will be immediately removed to 
Porters' Department. 

Signed 

For your own protection it's smart to keep a 
"Damage Book" in which you can enter (in 
duplicate) a description of the damage done. 
Guests are usually charged for damage caused 
by overflows, fires, burns of carpet or furniture, 
etc. The charge should be enough to cover re- 
placement material and labor. In some hotels, 
a charge is made to cover the length of time the 
room is out of order, also. 

The housekeeper sends her report to the as- 
sistant manager who in turn lets her department 
know if the charge is to be put through. 

On insurance adjustments, the housekeeper 
merely reports a detailed account of the acci- 
dent to the accounting office, and leaves it to 
the management to collect if, when, and as pol- 
icies permit. 

6. Theft and Shippers 

The wise executive housekeeper reports the 
discovery of theft and skippers to the front office 
just as soon as she possibly can, in order to give 
the management all the aid possible in tracing 
the offenders. 

She should also train the maids to note all 
baggage and to notify the floor clerk or the 
housekeeper's office at once if baggage appears 
"light." It may belong to a banker from Boston 
or to a "skipper." The housekeeper should be 

42 



given the name and room number of the suspect 
or skipper so that she can impress on her maid 
and assistant housekeeper the importance of 
observing baggage. 

Maids have been known to spot a skipper when 
he returned to a hotel. If the maid is not in- 
formed of the misuse of a room in her section, 
her interest will be less keen. Porters and bell 
boys should be trained to report "light baggage." 
Bell boys have, in many instances, spotted skip- 
pers when they returned to the hotel. Had the 
boy not been told that "Mr. So and So roomed 
by you was a skipper," he would have paid no 
attention to the man when he returned. 

7. Double Occupancy in Single Rooms 

Here again the executive housekeeper can only 
report double occupancy on single rate to the 
front office and leave it to the discretion of the 
management as to whether or not there shall 
be any extra charge. 

PERSONAL PROGRESS 

This is the age of co-operation and education. 
The standard of intelligence in business today is 
so high that the progress made in almost any 
line of business you can think of is greater than 
the avenues of expression open for dissemination 
of this knowledge. 

Membership in such an association as the Na- 
tional Executive Housekeepers Association is 
stimulating to the housekeeper and this reflects 
itself in better work for her hotel. 

Then there are books. The new edition of 

43 



"Housekeeping Organization and Management" 
in Hotels and Institutions is rightfully called 
the Housekeepers' Bible. It covers every phase 
of a housekeepers position. 

There are, at this writing, 6 additional Gold 
Books; companion volumes to the one you are 
reading: The Efficient Maid Manual, Decorating 
with Paint and Paper, Bedmaking Illustrated, 
Room Cleaning Illustrated, How to Make Slip 
Covers, and Hospital Housekeeping. These are 
standard in the National Executive Housekeepers 
Association. See back cover for prices. 

Hotel Management Magazine has a special de- 
partment for executive housekeepers. Each 
month a detailed study is made of some one im- 
portant phase of a housekeeper's job. Sample 
copy on request. Subscription price $3.00 per 
year. 

DECORATION BOOKS 

Fabrics 

This is the most recent and comprehensive 
book. It is a standard text book in schools of 
decoration and textiles. It has over 100 illus- 
trations. $2.50. 

How to Arrange Flowers 

New edition of a handbook highly praised by 
authorities on the subject. Table and room sug- 
gestions. $.75. 

Interior Decoration 

By Sherrill Whiton, Director of the N. Y. 
School of Interior Decoration. The subject is 
thoroughly covered. 775 pages and over 350 

44 



illustrations cover decoration through the ages 
with complete chapters on French, English, 
American, Colonial and Modern art — decorative 
fabrics, curtains, floor coverings, wallpaper and 
pictures, lighting, interior trim and accessories. 

Floor composition and furniture arrangement; 
color and color schemes; and an extensive glos- 
sary of technical terms. 

This book might well be made the backbone 
of any decorative study by hotels, associations 
or housekeepers. Price $5. 

The Book of Furniture and Decoration 

Thorough, and expertly written. Contains 
complete outline of styles and the uses of woods. 
Shows how to choose and how to arrange furni- 
ture. Information about mixing paints, what 
to look for in buying furniture, lighting arrange- 
ments, etc. 300 pages and 200 illustrations. $3. 

The Encyclopedia of Furniture 

Over 1,000 illustrations. Details and develop- 
ment of furniture from the beginning to the 
present. Covers all phases, designs, wood, mate- 
rials, architecture and decoration. Exceptionally 
fine value. $3. 



These books may be purchased 
from The Dahls, Stamford, Conn. 



45 



Profitable Egg Specialties 7§ 

Book of Profitable Soups 83 

Cooking with Rum 72 

Pierre's 60 Profitabls Sandwiches 14 

Profitable Vegetable Cookery 15 

60 Profitable Vegetable Plates 18 

106 Profitable Meat Platee 21 

Southern Cook Book 80 

600 Meat Service Suggestions 67 

Profitable Chicken Recipes 58 

New England Cook Book 81 

144 International Recipes 56 

Low Cost Quantity Recipes 61 

Round the World Recipes 100b 

Mary Hunt Salad Bowl 100 

Penn Dutch Recipes 81 

Salad Parads 86 

Western Cookery 85 

Chinese Cookery 84 

145 Seasonal Plate Combinations 70 

Book of Hors d'Oeuvres 100c 

HOTEL MANAGEMENT 

Publicity Ideas for Hotels and Restaurants lOOf 

Profitable Hotel Advertising 7 

Resort Hotel Management 23 

Small Hotel Accounting 32 

Hotel Daily Financial Diary 47 

How to Eject Undesirable Guests 10 

How to Cash Checks Safely 20 

How to Develop Good Executives 36 

Guarding Against Hotel Crooks 26 

Hotel Data Book 50 

Bellman's Manual 4 

Room Clerk's Manual 16 

Front Office Manual 87 

Guest Protection Manual 86 

Telephone Service Manual 85 

Executive Staff Manual 84 

Uniform Service Manual 82 

Hotel Coffee Shop Management lOOh 

HOUSEKEEPING 

The Efficient Maid Manual 3 

Modern Housekeeping Methods 17 

Bedmaking, Illustrated 42 

Room Cleaning, Illustrated 45 

Decorating with Paint and Paper 12 

How to Make Slip Covers 44 

Hospital Housekeeping 67 

Housekeeping Operation 88 

Housekeeping Organization 88 

Dictionary of Laundry Terms 48 

MERCHANDISING—RADIO 

Selling Food to Hotels and Restaurants 83 

Dictionary of Radio and Broadcasting Terms 66 

Pricest 3 for $1; 7 for $2; 12 for $3; 25 for $5 

THE DAHLS, HsviUad Rood, Stamford, Corns. 



YOUR LIBRARY 

This handbook is one in a series of more than 
1 00 specialized idea volumes on commercial hos- 
pitality — for hotels, restaurants, clubs, hospitals, 
schools, colleges, soda fountains, steamship lines, 
railroads, etc. 

The subjects cover most important divisions of 
quantity cookery, menu making, purchasing, em- 
ployee training, advertising, housekeeping, laun- 
dry, and beverages. 

Each handbook has been written by an expert 
and boiled down to between 7,500 and 12,000 
words of practical ideas. In many instances in- 
formation in one or two dollar books has been 
condensed to the "Little Sold Business Book" 
standard. 

Several hundred thousand "Gold Books" are 
used by more than fifty thousand establishments. 
Many schools, associations, chain organizations, 
and unions use the manual series for training — 
especially "The Efficient Waitress Manual", 
"Efficient Waiter's Manual", "Efficient Maid's 
Manual", "Hostess and Headwaitresses' Manual", 
"Dictionary of 1001 Menu Terms". 

These and other books in the series are listed 
on the inside covers of this volume. 

In addition to the Gold Book series we publish 
and distribute over 500 other volumes on cook- 
ing, housekeeping, management, accounting, etc. 
Write for a free copy of our complete catalogue. 
All of our books are sold with a money-back 
guarantee. 

J. O. DAHL 

No. 17 

The DAHLS— Haviland Road, Stamford, Conn. 



